in my business. I laughed and thought the Chia Pet was cute when I saw it.
âGirl, I goâsta go. Hell naw, I ainât throw it away, itâs somewhere in the damn garage. Hell Ch-Ch-Ch-Chy-eah!â I rushed my black ass off the phone so fast I ainât even say bye.
âTrey, Taya, go lay yâallâs asses down, itâs damn naptime,â I shouted up toward their playroom, satisfied when I heard the pitter-patter of they bad asses running to get in their beds. I needed to figure out exactly where the hell Iâd stuck that damn package because apparently it had some extra shit up in it and I needed that in my life right now. It would be easier to figure out how I was going to talk to this woman, aka my so-called wife, about this new shit that popped up in our situation if I was at least a little lifted.
CHAPTER 3
JUST A FRIENDLY REMINDER
Traffic was backed up on the I-95 expressway in both directions. Cursing to myself I dialed the house phone. Something told me I shouldâve just gone straight home after meeting with Key. It was already going on six and Larissa was probably jumping to all kinds of conclusions. Times like this made me miss Virginia; at least there I could hop on the midtown or downtown tunnel and be home in twenty minutes, or get off on any of the side streets and still be there like it was nothing. Not here; I had to cut clear across town to get back home, and this shit this time of year with the tourists and the locals trying to get in and out of town was insane.
âHey.â She picked up and that one word said it all: short and shitty mad.
âBaby, Iâm stuck in traffic on the highway. I had to drop the contract off back at the office. You wonât believe whoââ
âNo, Michelle, you wonât believe what itâs like stuck up in this house all damn day witâ two kids waitinâ on somebody to bring they ass home when they say they will. What da hell happened to âfive-ishâ? You know what, donât even answer dat. Iâll just see you when you get here.â Silence.
Did she just? Yes, her ass did. Chelle, calm down. Edging through traffic, I gave myself a pep talk. I was on the verge of walking up in that seven-bedroom, $3,000-a-month mortgage house and goinâ slam the fuck off. I alone paid that mortgage and upkeep on that house her unappreciative ass was suddenly so upset about being âstuck up in all day.â Shit, itâs not like she didnât have a car. Larissa had two cars. Why she refused to leave the house without me by her side was just another argument waiting to happen.
Forty-five minutes later I parked in front of our garage and braced myself as I walked in through the front door. Even the short distance from the car to the front door broke me out in a mild sweat and the AC gave me an instant chill when I walked in. Normally when I got home from work my babiesâ little arms would wrap around my legs. Trey and Lataya, my four-year-old son and two-year-old adopted daughter, would squeal and giggle as I play tugged, dragged, and scuffed up freshly waxed hardwood flooring and let them put runs in my brand new stockings, but the house was dead silent. I walked through the foyer into the living room. The curtains were drawn against the setting sun, casting the room in warm shadows.
âAâight. So, where was you really at?â Her tone was half asking and half accusatory.
I stopped in the entryway. For a brief moment I was alarmed. Was she using again? Was she high on something right now? No, that wasnât possible. I could clearly hear the shakiness and the tears in her voice. After weâd gotten married and gained legal custody of Lataya, the daughter of her cousin Honey and my ex-fianc é, Ris had managed to stay away from all that shit, just like Iâd managed to avoid dick. I erased the negative thought just as soon as it occurred.
âRis, I told you. I had